Robert Greenlee Dispositione di voce: passage to florid singing ck lercadenteh ns encore per, : Leon ws macstre ereecre gpl pet jet areey. Bch corre rnsct camer netens N crnans di Vale. debn iacorom cle Longus cx por Leneator Bh ope h ote ae tie page alian singers of the late 16th century were celebrated for their mastery of embellishment The works of Giulio Caccini (born in Rome but active in Florence) and the concert delle donne popular in Ferrara exemplify fone aspect of this art, and the florid singing of the falsenists in the papal chapel another. However, when performed with the vocal techniques coramonly taught today, these embellishments are unwieldy. often re: sulting in phlegmatic tempos and awkward phrasing. It {s thus not surprising thar the cechniques of embellish iment described in 16th-and early 17Ut-century sources are unlike their modern counterparts: indeed. the picture that emerges suggests an entirely different ‘means of singing melismas." Tn order to perform these embellishments, the singer had co acquire what was known asdsposttione di et den voce. 2 vocal ‘disposition’ that made florid singing possible. According to Giovanni Luca Conforto, the acilica della dispositione’ was possessed by very few singers.” Adriano Banctieri noted that chi ha dsposterzo dt voce eserovost cantor solo el! Orgone. Arpicorda Liuo.Chinarone.Arpimarons.@ alin Stoment sient ocendost occomodar le Canilne da Composter. mteligent, ‘i quesia Gorga® whoever has disposition of the voice exercises it singing alone with the organ. harpsichord, lute, chittatone. arp (arone or other similar instruments, doing i s0 98 10 accommodate the composers’ music... nveligently, wth this embellishment Other contemporary writers observed that the task of performing seemingly impossible embellishments was made easier by ‘buona dispositione’.* and that this EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY [987 47\dispositione della gorga' was acquired appoce appoc Uhrough practice.* Caccini makes reference to i in his famous 1 nuove musiche, instructing the singer to ‘essercitare la disposizione’ on the most suitable vowels." Disposition opened the door (0 embellishments that, by present-day standards, require astounding facility.” aths, Sths, octaves and other wide intervals are often found in the midst of long scalic passages, apparently without remission of speed, thenote values being as shor as semicrome or biscrome semiguavers or demisemiquavers; see ex 1) ¥ Repeated notes occur at Ect isjunct embellishments (8) Bovice Regle, passaged musica, p29 1) Cipnana de Rore."Non gemme nen fine embelished \erson from Dalla Cas, Il vero modo i iin p34 8 cadences (ex.20}, in predominately scalic passages (ex.2b, 2c) in the context of accemta (ex 24}, and in the extended ornament known as mile fex.2e)? 142 Embelshments with repesed notes {3} Poestrina, Vestiva col embelshed soprano part fom ume EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1987 “ hiatal Fe) Confort, eve face maniea, p12 lr) Contemporary sources suggest that these already disticule embellishments were executed with exoa: ordinary speed. Writing in 1535, Sylvestro di Ganass: observed that vocal embellishments were so fast that ‘the haphazard counterpoint produced was not offen: sive," and 20 years later Vicentino explained thar the unacceptable counterpoint went by so quickly it was, not even heard: 1 cantante andr rvolgendo per le pam... taccando kor uno pone. & horm Fata con vane consonanze & dissonenze lequalt per uloc del cantare paiono buone et ren sono.” ‘The {embellishing singer wil proceed by moving among the pans... touching now one gar, and ther another. with & variety of consonances and dissonances, which—due to the velocity of singing-seem conect and yet ate not. Some repeated-note ornaments were sung so rapidly that they could not even be rhythmically convolled. or shaped perce ques accent esend utd semicrome e bscrome, che sono welocssime non si passone far pi che a una mantera soi. se ‘ene ut si pub dare i emote. ma ueloce non cosiformeta ‘hese accents, being al of semuquavers and demisem: ‘quavers, which are of extreme velocity. cannot be performed ‘except in one manner (even ifoneis able to make a shake on ther). and that is rapidly and not shaped." As the shortest note values, bisrome were so fast that some thought they should not be notated in vocal rusic at all, but only improvized. because too few singers possessed the necessary disposition to sing them. Nonetheless. the most agile singers performed them with ease." and 2 few could even match the facility of instrumentalists, due to their'disposition: dt Dispasitione made possible embellishments that were ‘not only fast, butalso cleanly articulated, The necessity to ‘detach’ (spicciachiare) the passagei was recognized by Zacconi, who acknowledged that not everyone had the ability to ‘break and separate them’ (romperle & spezzorie)* In his instructions for singing scalic embellishments in the (talian manner Praetonus declared:fe CAR TELLA PIORET YE 2 anchlen. Camella musicale. embellishment Je geschwinder und sehrffr mun diese cauflin gemacht wenden ‘doch algo dase man eine jade Noten recht rein héren und fast vvememen han’ Je besser und anmiger es sein ward” ‘he more quickly and sharply tac these little runs are made, s0 that one can hear each note cleanly and almost distinctly, the better and more pleasing ic will be The clarity of articulation matched even that of instraments, because the tonguings used in instru stental diminution (ler-ler, derfer and terler) were said tohave a quality similar co vocal embellishment."* The articulation should be so distinct that singers without 4 good dispositione had o imitate it with consonants, ‘creating syllables such as gnu, ga, bi. vi, si, ur, bar, ber ‘(¢, not unlike diminution tonguings,"” The use of syllables to articulate vocal embellish- ments was considered second best, because it resulted. in too much distinction and separation. The ideal anticulation. made possible only by dispositione, was exemplified in a description of cometto tonguings whose author, Girolamo Dalla Casa, considered the cornetto to be the instrument most like the human, voice): with clarity, but also not too broken. ® Dispos ‘one thus facilitated the clean pitch changes possible fon instruments, avoiding portamento between notes, yet also avoiding a break in the sound, ‘When portamento was required, it was notated with a slur, Ms specific purpose being to effect a mutation, Durante explained it thus: er crescent della voce dal tuono al semituono si ossegna it ‘esis nella note tigate per dar ad imendere. che bisegna ‘omminciar crescer pace a poco facendo conto chev siono ¢ ‘come sino che start a perfect crescimenta, che quando é fate ‘bone commove ascot” For ase n pitch in the voice froma tone tots half tone. che sharp is placed on the ted [slurred] nace vo indicate hat one should climb litle by litle, moving by the count of four commas, ntl the perfect half tone ts reached—sehich creates a very moving effect. The slur was necessary to prevent the singer from articulating the musation in the same way as repeated notes—an articulation which, if used on changing. notes, would not allow portamento (see ex.3).2* 1S Stccin, Le seconde mutch, ‘Aspro fl eres zea According to Boviceli, dispositione facilitated art culation similar to that produced by alternating instvu mental tonguings (lere-lere E dower. che non tute le note si pronuntiano ad uno wstesso ‘mode, perce acuna volta si deuono spceare ad una ad una tanto che 31 sent fa difnenza delPuna dol! olva anco nla uoce. © ‘questo quando seruono per vate per cantar quando seruono per fctvarun salt d tra... doves toveronno due sole noted ‘minor uote, quelle non si deuono far senie con tant forza perche casi danno meggiar rane” And be advised, that not al ofthe notes are ariculated in the ‘ame fashion, because sometimes itis necessary to detach them one by one, so thatthe difference from ane to another 1s felt in the voice as well, and this methedisto be ysed with ‘sacae on the other hand, when used for facilitating aleap of 2 Ovied ... where one finds two notes of short value, these should note feltwith much force as dis will make for more race As can be seen in Bovicelli’s accompanying exemple {ex.4), the ‘wa notes of short value® that ‘should not be felt with much force’ (that is, articulated less vigor ‘ouslyase biscrome in the midst of semicrome Variation, EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1987 49